The Gorgeous Light-Up Lawn Decor You Can Create On A Dollar Tree Budget

Decorating your garden on a budget isn't always easy, but a few things from Dollar Tree will help you create a stunning DIY outdoor lighting feature that you'll love. By using a beach ball for its shape, you can make a gorgeous cement sphere that can be set over a staked light. The trick is to coat some rope, like the decorative nautical rope at Dollar Tree, with wet cement and wrap it around the beach ball. When it's had time to harden, you can pop or deflate the ball — though this method takes more time — and decorate your garden sphere. 

While you can find most of the supplies you'll need at Dollar Tree, including the solar yard light stake, you'll likely have to find your concrete at a hardware store. Luckily, Lowe's has 50 pound bags of Quikrete high strength concrete mix for less than $4. The beach balls and thick rope will create medium or large garden spheres, but you could use latex balloons to make a smaller orb. Additionally, if you want the concrete lines of your decoration to be thinner, you could dip Dollar Tree yarn in the cement instead.

To begin making your DIY garden ornament to enhance your outdoor space, blow up your beach ball or balloons until they are firm. If they're too full, they could potentially pop while you're working. For those that plan to deflate and reuse their beach ball, wrapping it in a plastic bag can help prevent the cement from getting all over it. Now, you'll need to mix your concrete and lay out a tarp or a storage bin to place the decoration in while it dries.

Prepare your concrete per the directions, making sure the mixture isn't too thick. Before putting your rope or yarn into the cement, wet it first to help it soak up more of the concrete. Hold onto the end of your rope as you dip it into the cement, making sure that it's totally coated. Squeeze the material to get as much wet concrete into the fibers as possible. When you pull the rope out of the mixture, wring it out slightly so that there isn't too much cement that will become gloopy. Finally, wrap your rope around your beach ball or balloon so that the material is criss-crossed. Once you've used all the rope, stick the ends under another piece to prevent it from unraveling and leave your decoration to dry. You may want to mist the concrete with water as its curing to help make it stronger.

Once the concrete has totally hardened, take the ball or balloon out of the center. Your sphere may have some spots where the concrete sticks out, but you can break these off if you wish. When you're happy with the shape of your orb, you could simply set it over your light stake in your yard or garden, or decorate it to make it uniquely yours. You might consider painting the sphere white or another color that compliments your outdoor space. You can find tons of colors of Prang tempera paint at Dollar Tree if you don't have any left over from other projects. If you want a more aesthetically pleasing stake light, Dollar Tree has the floral shaped LED solar light as well as the sunflower solar light. 

Alternatively, you could place your orb on a sturdy, decorative table or on your patio and adorn it with outdoor string lights from Dollar Tree. For those that want to deck out their lawn decor even more, you might pick up some floral decorations at the discount retailer as well. You could use tape to attach various flowers and greenery to your sphere, making it even more beautiful. Not only does this project create a unique lawn decoration, but it's also a brilliant way to provide lighting along your patio.